Blog

As I head back to Oregon, on a plane after a layover in Salt Lake City, I reflect on my week in San Antonio. I'm exhausted, overwhelmed, invigorated and feel a little postpartum like I usually do after seeing so many colleagues, meeting new people and having an opportunity to connect with people I consider close friends.

I think of the highlights, buzz words and new information that I collected. I think about how I can be a better school health consultant to share my knowledge, spread the word, create better materials, write stronger papers, facilitate more effective training events, support more organizations and state DOE's and DOH's. I have left with a list of about 25 next steps, including how I can use social media to better connect, collaborate and create. My list includes the people I need to follow up with, the books I need to read, the apps I need to check out and the ideas I have for the Portland ASHA conference in 2014!

I need to bring back to Oregon these highlights, updates and buzz words. Included in that list are:

-Who was recognized by ASHA and what their contributions have been

-Updates on emerging areas that continue to grow like school employee wellness and integrating school health practices, policies and programs in School Improvement Plans

-Updates from CDC/DASH, like the new SHI and HECAT that will be available soon and a new page on their site on Strategies for Engaging Parents

-I want to share how Superintendent Larry Mussoline from Downingtown Area Pennsylvania has a mission for his district that states: "Promoting healthy school communities for students, staff and faculty by aligning health and education to support the whole child."

-Finally, I want to share Howell Wechsler's TOP 10 Strategies for advancing school health.

Marketing:

1.Use tools to make school health work easier: School Health Index, Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool, Physical Education Analysis Tool (all http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/), and so many other tools and documents we have access to. Maybe my next blog post will be the tools and resources I use on a regular basis!

2. Showing that health is academic, like Charles Basch's Healthier Students are Better Learners, or CDCs data tables on risk behaviors and the correlation to grades in school